1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing technology and, more particularly, to an information processing apparatus adapted to provide information using position information on a person and to an information processing method implemented in the apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various services utilizing position information obtained from a global positioning system (GPS) are currently available in car navigation systems, cell phones, etc. For example, devices are provided capable of mapping a history of user positions into a map and displaying the map accordingly. There is also proposed a technology designed to analyze a history of movement to keep track of the tendency in user behavior. For example, there is proposed a method designed to introduce the concept of “place” with a certain expanse by clustering a history of movement using the k-means method (see, for example, “Platform for mapping personal contents into places” Information Processing Society of Japan Technical Report, UBI, [ubiquitous computing system], 2007(118) pp. 9-14, 20071129).
Meanwhile, as a result of speeding up of image processing, advances in network environments, etc., information devices such as personal computers and cell phones are now equipped with the capabilities of displaying a map retrieved over a network. By configuring the capabilities of displaying a map as an interactive function, users can change the scale of the map or move the display area in a display screen of a limited size, so as to display a desired area.
In cameras and photo viewer devices, slideshow functions capable of displaying photos with switching automatically are now commonly available. Automatic switching between images for view requires automatically selecting an arbitrary number of images from a set of image data in order to adjust viewing time. For this purpose, technologies designed to select photos according to the time of photographing, similarity of images, etc. are proposed (e.g., JP 2009-80794).
Using a history of movement in which the position information such as latitude and longitude obtained from a GPS is merely mapped into the time of day (e.g., mapping the history into a geographical map) makes available information indicating a route of movement. However, it does not suit the purpose of understanding the tendency because all data are equally dealt with. The related-art approach also tends to produce an enormous amount of data and may create a problem in that an image as displayed is complicated and is less easily searchable. The above-mentioned technology using clustering extracts information on “places” indeed but does not make available relation with a time axis (e.g., time spent in stay, frequency of stay, etc.). The related-art approach also categorizes data into “stay” and “movement” according to the speed of movement. Therefore, places of stay such as amusement parks and golf links where people move as they use the place are less likely to be extracted.
Further, users using the above-mentioned map displaying function and wishing to view a desired area at a desired scale have to adjust both the area in view and the scale while viewing the screen. Quite often, this could result in an area different from the intended area being displayed as the scale is increased, or the desired area being lost from view.
In particular, where network connection is established to download image data for a map, various processes for displaying a new image are required each time the user makes fine adjustment, requiring a certain period of time before a new image is displayed since the user operation. Depending on the processing capabilities of the device or network conditions, the time elapsed would be intolerable, causing stress for the user.
Further, where photos are used to, for example, recollect a trip, it is desirable to select photos that match individual scenes. If the focus is only on a series of photos taken by the user and photos are selected for display accordingly, selection of photos may be biased because little photos may have been taken in one scene and a lot of photos may have been taken in another, resulting in discrepancy between the result of displaying photos and the actual trip.
Related Art List
“Platform for mapping personal contents into places” Information Processing Society of Japan Technical Report, UBI, [ubiquitous computing system], 2007(118) pp. 9-14, 20071129.    JPA laid open 2009-80794